Collections of János Xántus

Within the framework of a cooperative research project, the Museum of Ethnography and the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts will research the artefacts collected by János Xántus, who participated in a 1869-70 expedition to East Asia. The Museum of Ethnography has been collecting, archiving, protecting, researching and mediating the traditional and modern cultural artefacts of Hungary, Europe and communities outside Europe since 1872. The foundation of the institution is linked to the collection built by János Xántus based on the aforementioned Austro-Hungarian expedition to East Asia.
Since its foundation in 1919 the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, the leading institution in Hungary mediating Asiatic arts and cultures, has also curated the rest of the material collected by János Xántus in the Far East. The research project is aimed at the joint scientific exploration of the Xántus East Asian collections preserved in the two museums. As the Xántus collection was the first collection in Hungary that documented East Asian cultures, its research is a scientific and cultural mission of prime importance for both museums.

PICTURE: STATUE OF BODHISHATTVA (MANJUSRI?)
Indonesia. Central Java. 10th century
Collection of János Xantus